There was an interesting Q&A the other day down in the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., with that the Rev. Franklin Graham, the public-square heir of Billy Graham.
Changing/growing list of priorities?
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Haunted Palin story
In The New York Times, reporter Jan Hoffman found an ingenious angle on an old story — a political candidate’s self-image.
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Speculation in covering Palin
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a slew of newspaper articles on the religion of Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska’s governor. Considering that the rather surprising announcement of Palin’s spot on the ticket has been known for a couple of weeks, one would hope that the coverage would be thorough, original and informative.
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Hey Kurtz: We're mad about journalism
Yes, your GetReligionistas are about to jump on Charlie Gibson and ABC News — again — about that serious error that took place in his interview with Gov. Sarah Palin. Actually, we also need to jump on one of Gibson’s defenders, which would be the all-powerful Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. I should stress that I am a huge fan of Kurtz and there are probably more of his books in my Washington Journalism Center course bibliographies than any other mainstream writer. I do not enjoy knocking one of my favorite mainstream journalists.
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Orthodox or extremist?
New York Times religion writer Peter Steinfels devoted his Saturday column to media use of the word “orthodox” as a religious descriptor. The article, titled “The Audacity of Claiming the Last Word on This Word,” is a thoughtful and interesting media critique against the media being the arbiter of what makes an orthodox believer.
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Thanks, James Taranto (LA Times, too)
Since I thanked Beliefnet.com’s Steve Waldman for his gentle Charlie Gibson smackdown, let me head a tick right of center and thank James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal for doing the same.
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Bad Jesus-Pontius Pilate analogies
Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis predicted on National Public Radio’s Interfaith Voices this week that a button circulating on the Internet stating that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor would be all over the place in a few days. Wallis was making the point that the comment by Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her acceptance speech about Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s community organizing experience was fairly offensive to community organizers and may backfire in faith-based communities where community organizers are often associated with churches. He suggested he might want to apologize.
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Thank you, Steve Waldman
Take it away, oh thou czar of Beliefnet.com (bonking you head on the wall the Divine Ms. MZ has been pounding all day).
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Not always reliable sources
I have been reflecting on the Charles Gibson’s performance during his ABCinterview of Gov. Sarah Palin and I actually feel bad for him. Because Palin has not been as available to the press as they would have liked, he had the burden of representing the entire mainstream media establishment. And with the mainstream media admitting they are “angry” and passionate these last few weeks, that put Gibson in a very difficult position. I mean, he has to work with and socialize with these people for the rest of his life. That is an incredible amount of peer pressure and it had to have been an unbelievably difficult situation for him. I don’t think it excuses getting basic facts wrong but it’s just worth considering all the pressures he was under.
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